FAKTUM kitty loo

Description: My husband and I recently moved to a new house and the living area is the only place where we could fit the litter box. Obviousy, we wanted to disguise the litterbox as much as possible, especially because it’s just opposite the main entrance.

I wanted a contemporary, low white cabinet of about 100 cm in length, but BESTA only comes in either 60 cm or 120 cm, so after much looking we chose a FAKTUM wall cabinet, positioned it on its side.

1. We assembled the FAKTUM frame and used a jigsaw to cut out the access hole for the cat flap, following the template included with the cat flap.

2. The FAKTUM frame has holes on the top and bottom shelf, and since we positioned the cabinet on its side, these were clearly visible and ugly. My husband covered both sides with white self adhesive vinyl, and he also used it to cover the inside of the cabinet, so that litter wouldn’t fall in the holes.

3. We fixed a BESTA push opener to the cabinet, to make opening the door easier. We also screwed a hook to leave the litter scoop in the kitty loo.

4. We bought a narrow litter box, and placed a plastic ribbed mat between the litter tray and the cat flap, to avoid spillage of litter on the floor. We also put some bicarbonate of soda in a small container inside the cabinet, to help absorb nasty smells.

6. Access to clean the box is easy by simply opening the cabinet door.

We left the cat flap open for a day to help our cats familiarise with their new loo, and they took to it very quickly.

We’re really pleased with this kitty loo: it blends in well with the rest of the furniture, the nasty smells are gone, and the cats love it.

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Jules Yap "I am Jules, the engine behind IKEAHackers and the one who keeps this site up and running. My mission is to capture all the wonderful, inspiring, clever hacks and ideas for our much loved IKEA items".

Love the idea and recreated it using BESTA because I couldn’t find FAKTUM. There was enough space so I utilized one of the BESTA shelves and made a separate area to store the little genie. Now it’s all nice and tidy inside the unit.

Also didn’t use the flat door, but spent an extra $10 for the door with inset wood-paneling. Makes it look a little fancier. I can’t recommend the contact paper and rubber matt for under the littler box enough. My kitty immediately tried to straddle the side of the box and peed on the walls/floor. The contact paper stopped it from soaking in. Got that at target for $6. If she does it again I’m going to get a steralite high-wall container and cut a scoop in it for her.

We followed your hack using the Faktum cabinet and it turned out really, really well. Our cat took to it right away and has never objected to using it. For us, it limits any odours that might arise. Thanks!

Ok, this comment has nothing to do with the hack, which I really like by the way, but with the bannister for your stairs. is there any chance you could send me a picture on which I would see more of it. I took off the ugly one we had in our little condo and I really like the idea of not having spindles but I am wandering how it is attached further up: email me if you can at : [email protected]many many thanks

I use an underbed storage tote, as well as a concrete mixer tray from Lowe’s as litter boxes. The tote is large, but unfortunately has a ridge all the way around that is sometimes tricky to get wet litter cleaned out.

The mixer tray however is PERFECT! The sides are slanted, so no more digging out wet litter in tight corners. It’s high enough to mostly prevent my fuzzybuttZ from putting their business on the outside. The plastic so far has not been damaged by pee either, which always happens with real litter trays. If that’s not good enough reason to try it – it only costs about 10 or 12 bucks!

Cat boxes, even those with tall lids, are just made too shallow. Some cats pee standing up, drenching the sides of the box, sometimes spilling over the sides of the box or between the box base and lids. Many cat boxes simply are too small for large/tall cats.

Try using a large ordinary deep plastic storage box with a U-shape cut out on one side (from the top edge) for the cat to walk through. The lid can still be used or discarded. Heavy duty scissors, metal/tin shears, or a utility knife will cut through the plastic box side to create an opening. Be sure to make the U-shape smooth and not too deep (so the litter won’t spill out).

We used an inexpensive Sterilite plastic box from Target (without the lid) to put an end to our large male’s stand-up pee over the side routine, but Rubbermaid brand works, too. I’d never go back to a regular cat box again. The semi-transparent sides were also of benefit for our 2nd cat, who didn’t like when the older dominant cat snuck up on her while she was using the box.

This design did not work for my cat. 50% of the time she would pee over the side of the litter tray and wet the walls and floor of the cabinet. Even with a pet mat down the pee soaked the board via the holes for the shelf supports and swelled up. I used a VIKA ALEX cabinet but I don’t think a FAKTUM would have survived either. Perhaps, metal or plastic would work.

To Anonymous: You might be able to buy a door flap on eBay; otherwise any pet site sells them, like PetSmart.com or PetCo.com and others. Another place to check is a home improvement store, like Lowe’s or Home Depot. Good Luck!

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